Blu-Ray Disc Association Nears Completion of 4K Discs

More and more everyday it would seem that services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Plus are winning us over with ever-expanding catalogues and convenience. But during the IFA trade show in Berlin the Blu-ray Disc Association said it still had something big for physical media coming soon – 4K Blu-ray optical discs. By mid-2015 the association hopes to have licensed the new technology, paving the way for the first 4K Blu-ray players and discs to arrive in stores and on shelves for the holiday buying season.

As always – fitting more data into a disc allows for better picture and sound. And the new disc looks to be shaping up to be more than just a resolution bump – with the Blu-ray Disc Association telling CNET that the upgraded optical discs will offer dramatically improved color gamut and higher dynamic range – which in turn will result in making details, shadows and highlights more visible to the viewer. Things will be sounding bigger and better than you’ve ever seen them on the in-home screen.

The question that consumers will have to make is simple, is it worth shelling out for a new Blu-ray player and collection of discs? However, does the convenience of streaming matter more than having higher image quality than optical discs? With no shortage of streaming options available – it might be a difficult future ahead for the Blu-ray disc to compete in the industry.